[cups-devel] Searching recursively for backends and filtes inside ServerBin directory?

[Michael Sweet]

Mario,

See my response on the CUPS user list...


On Oct 15, 2014, at 2:42 PM, Mario Sanchez Prada <mario at endlessm.com> wrote:

> Hi,
> 
> I've been playing a bit lately with some customizations we need in our
> platforms related to how we integrate third-party printer drivers into
> the CUPS infrastructure, and I was wondering whether it would make
> sense to modify cups so it can search recursively for third party
> backends & filters under the ServerBin (e.g. /usr/lib/cups) directory.
> Pretty much as it already does when searching for PPD files inside
> /usr/share/ppd.
> 
> The reason why I was thinking of doing such a thing is because we
> would need to ship CUPS with ServerBin in the usual locations
> (/usr/lib/cups), but anything under that path will be read-only stuff
> once the system has booted, so any further installation of any other
> driver afterwards won't be able to install anything in that location.
> 
> So I thought that, if it was possible for CUPS to search recursively
> for filters and backends inside ServerBin, I guess I could implement
> some solution similar to what many printers manufacturers seem to
> follow for the PPD files: ship those files under some other
> directories and then symlinking to those directories from /usr/cups/.
> 
> In my mind, it could be perhaps something like this, for instance
> 
>  /usr/lib/cups/filters/third-party ->  /opt/cups-third-party/filters
>  /usr/lib/cups/backends/third-party  ->  /opt/cups-third-party/backends
> 
> (and we could include those symlinks as part of the base image
> populating /usr/lib/cups).
> 
> 
> I've checked the code and a quick grep shows that at least I'd need to
> change a few files under scheduler/ (cupsfilter.c, job.c,
> printers.c...) to achieve this, but I'm not aware yet of any side
> effect/implication that might have, so I think I could use some early
> advice here.
> 
> So, what do you think? Does this even make any sense, or is not
> possible/good idea for any reason?
> 
> Thanks in advance,
> Mario
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_________________________________________________________
Michael Sweet, Senior Printing System Engineer, PWG Chair